ENMAGINE IS OFFERING PLAN REVIEW SERVICES AT A DISCOUNT DURING THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY. Learn More Below |
SEVEN WAYS TO TELL IF YOUR EMERGENCY PLAN IS FICTION Novels are wonderful to escape into another world and to get insight into the human condition. Fiction has no place in emergency planning. Sometimes, inappropriate assumptions are made or information that easily expires is included in plans that makes them seem more like fiction than a document used to guide organizations when things go awry. Is your emergency plan fiction or non-fiction? Here is how to tell. |
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DOES YOUR HAZARD VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT PASS THE 'SNIFF TEST'?
HVA
 Sit back and look at your HVA. Does it make sense? If foreign terrorism really your greatest threat? Have you reviewed flood or dam inundation or earthquake intensity maps for your location? Have you run a Toxic Release Inventory search for your community? Have you reviewed your community's Hazard Mitigation Plan? Is the HVA reviewed critically annually? Have you drilled into the HVA to validate the findings? Do you use the HVA as part of your exercise planning process? Have you met with local emergency management regarding local capabilities?
 Tip: Scrutinize and challenge the data that went into your HVA. Compare your HVA with other healthcare organizations and emergency management in your region. Dig for information to assist in your determinations.
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IS YOUR PLAN BUILT ON SILENT ASSUMPTIONS THAT ARE SIMPLY NOT TRUE?
Assumptions
 Most plans include a list of basic assumptions that reminds readers that a disaster can happen at any time, how many licensed hospital beds exist, and general capabilities. While standard to include, plans are based on many assumptions that are rarely clearly stated. Listing the licensed beds as a maximum capacity but realistically the hospital can never staff or support that number of patients, or spaces designated to be used as alternate sites that are not truly available or do not have HVAC on generator power, or additional staffing resources that will not be accessible, or expecting instantaneous capabilities that take time to establish or deliver leads to poor emergency management. Oh, and if your organization is committed to using the Hospital Incident Command System and there has not been HICS training or refreshers in a couple of years do not expect competency. (The online FEMA ICS courses do not cut it which is why we offer training.)
Tip: Make sure the assumptions used to craft the plan are true and when feasible, make sure it is clearly stated so plan users know when something may not work as intended.
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ARE ALL THE REFERENCES TO OTHER DOCUMENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, PHONE NUMBERS, E-MAIL ADDRESSES AND THINGS CURRENT? References
 As plans are developed many references are included which contain dated information. Were references to plans you thought would exist included? How about sections or directories that reference individuals who are no longer present?
Tip: Review your emergency plans quarterly or semi-annually for outdated references and remove them or better yet - list assigned functions by job title instead of name and reference documents only after they are written and approved. |
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DOES YOUR PLAN GET TESTED AND EVALUATED DURING AN EXERCISE?
Exercises
 "People are exercised, plans are tested." No one fails and exercise. Before you say 'of course it does' ask yourself this question, "Does our evaluation process ensure that we assess how closely people follow the plan and identify the results of doing so?" EnMagine recommends a series of small drills between the larger exercises to address and improve the organization's ability manage identified shortfalls. Then validate the plan during a big exercise. To really test the plan, a self-evaluation process must be in place that focuses on determining, whether it was user-friendly during an emergency, how closely staff followed the plans why or why not and what they see as areas for improvement.
Tip: Do players actually read the plan, their job action sheet, and/or annex? Evaluate how closely players follow the plan and what their outcomes are to determine if your plan is really effective.
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DOES YOUR PLAN CONNECT TO OTHER ORGANIZATION PLANS ACCURATELY AND VICE VERSA?
Unified Command
 In addition to articulating how your workforce will respond to an emergency, your plan should discuss how it will coordinate information and resources with other organizations (e.g. other hospitals, local emergency operations center, etc.). Are these details correct or they based on general ideas but not agreements? If your Hazardous Materials and Decontamination Annex merely states "Call Fire Department" and the fire department cannot provide hazardous materials emergency response or no one has talked to the fire department, you will be disappointed. Even if the fire department says they will support decontamination, during a major external event they will be at the point of origin, not at your hospital.
Tip: Conduct an assessment to ensure that your plan accurately articulates what other organizations will and will not do for you and how you will work together. Don't forget to ask for copies of their plans and do a search for your hospital name to make sure they are assuming you will do things that are not consistent with your emergency management program. Sit down and go over your plan and their plan with allied organizations.Even better, invite external allied organization to your emergency management meetings and to actively participate in exercise planning. Do the same with them. Don't assign a task to some external agencies without them acknowledging the task, putting it into writing, and committing to actually carrying out that task. (Oh, and exercising with you.)
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DOES YOUR PLAN READ LIKE FAN FICTION OR SUCKING UP TO SURVEYORS INSTEAD OF BEING DRAFTED BY EXPERTS FOR END-USERS?
Usability
 Plans should be written by those who both excel at plan writing and who are intimately familiar with your organizations emergency program and response. It is not the surveyors who need to respond to an emergency so don't write the plan for the surveyors. Plan writing is neither "War and Peace" nor "Dick and Jane." A plan is intended to be used and should be designed that way.
Tip: Have a separate volume for the administrivia required by surveyors whether JC, AOA, DNV, or CMS and a cross-walk so the surveyors can find what they want and move on. Stuff like the life story of your emergency management committee and how often it meets are examples of interesting information but cluttering during an emergency. No one cares about metrics or exercise schedules or how many employees sat through the torturous IS 100, 200 and 700 when things are going awry. EnMagine prefers a Basic Plan that describes actions for all emergencies in a format that can be used when one's heart rate is elevated, Functional (e.g. evacuation) and Hazard-specific(e.g., flood, fire, tornado, earthquake) Annexes, Tools (Job Action Sheets, Forms), and finally the Administrative Manual where all of the extraneous information is kept. Minimize narrative? Use charts, simple algorithms, tables and other means to convey information.
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DOES YOUR PLAN CONTAIN TOTALLY UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS?
Expectations
 The media will not stay in the "Media Briefing Room," which is usually in a dark windowless place in the basement as far from the action as possible. (Would you?) If your Decontamination area normally has vehicles in that space, an overhead announcement or calling a tow truck to clear the area will likely not be effective or timely. Does that decontamination equipment require a truck to move it or 10 people to make operational? Do you expect staff to provide decontamination activities but you do not have enough trained people during non-business hours to perform the expected job functions? Has anyone inventoried your 96 hour cache and will it last 96 hours? (In Joplin MO their cache lasted 4 hours.) Can you actually set up your Hospital Command Center in a timely manner with enough computers, fax machines, ingoing/outgoing phones, maps, plans, and status boards?
Tip: Scrutinize your plan from the perspective of the end-user. Modify as appropriate.
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ENMAGINE IS OFFERING PLAN REVIEW SERVICES AT A DISCOUNT DURING THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY. EnMagine has written many emergency plans and planning guides over the years and is known for producing user-friendly and compliant documents (with depth) intended to be used when the heart rate is blazing. If rewriting your plans for usability and depth is not in your current budget, EnMagine can still help. For a limited time, EnMagine is offering an extensive plan review and recommendations report for a fixed price of $450. This service allows you to take advantage of our expertise in planning and plan writing and will allow you to easily update your plan so it more user-friendly, makes more sense to non-emergency management staff, and has more guidance and depth. Learn More |
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EnMagine Inc.
Post Office Box 280
Diamond Springs, California 95619
530-622-5964
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Give us a call today!
1-530-622-5964
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